Sword Art Online - Clash Trials WIP
by eronclash
Summary: Join Eron Clash and his brother Kurt as they try to stop Akihiko Kayaba
1. The Creator

**Chapter 1 - The Creator**

Four hours of sleep; Would I be tired in Game? I had so many questions, but not enough patience. Was it worth "sleeping" under the street lights the night before? I was about to find out.

Link Start!

I was then greeted by a simple but effective Log-In screen. I proceeded to enter my Gamer Tag: Eron Clash.

I spawned in what seemed to be a large town's plaza. A large clock tower collided with my field of view as I struggled to see over the dense skyline into the landscape beyond.

After my rejection from the beta program, I was relieved that I could have the luxury of being one of the first consumers of Sword Art Online and, to top off these new and exciting accomplishments, I was able to secure a copy for my friends Kurt and Taiken.

Speak of the Devils; I heard a familiar voice call my real name.

I approached Kurt and Taiken noticing that they had used some of their starting cor to buy a pair of meat pies.

"Kurt, you know I'm Eron here." I muttered frustratingly under my breath.

He was too busy stuffing his face to properly acknowledge me but it was something like, "Whatever, Mr. Clash".

The night before the three of us had agreed to go grind a little before the initial resources were drained.

I raised my sword waited for the glow and familiar charging sound; then I thrusted, completely off mark; missing all but it's leg. In the back of my mind I couldn't help but wonder whether another weapon would better suit me.

Just as I was about to target another boar,Kurt and I were startled by loud scream

We saw Taiken's avatar disconnect. Oddly though his avatar dissipated into light blue shards as if he had died in game.

Still flustered from the loud screech, I walked over to Kurt, "What was that," I asked him, "that couldn't have been normal." He nodded in agreement and stated, "I will log off and check if everything is alright."

I began to say, "Probably just a weird gli-" When I was interrupted by Kurt, "Hey, where is the logout button?"

In disbelief I opened my menu, he was right, no logout button. "Something weird is going on with the servers," I was quickly losing my cool, "hopefully they will be cleared soon."

Instantly we were all teleported into the same plaza we started in. The rising sound of confused voices was the least of our worries.

There was silence among the crowd, when a single red hexagon appeared in the sky. From the original one spread many; all displaying some sort of error.

A blood like substance began to flow and proceeded to congeal into a floating figure. The faceless being revealed himself as Akihiko Kayaba, the creator.

He went on to explain that we were trapped in the game. He said that if any player's nervegear was removed from their unconscious bodies, their brain would be destroyed.

Taiken crossed my mind, the shards; the scream. I stared into the mirror that had just appeared and watched helplessly as my newly revealed blue eyes filled with tears. I was shaking from the bottom of my leather shoes to the top of my red head.

I blocked out the rest of everything the creator said. I couldn't think, I had to go, I had to run.

As soon as the force fields were removed from the entrances I did exactly that. I didn't stop until I couldn't go any further.

I couldn't be contained by a game. This couldn't be real, when would I wake up?


	2. Taiken

**Chapter 2 - Taiken**

Leaving Kurt wouldn't have been my first choice. But, in my darkest hours I felt like I had no choice. The acceptance of Taiken's death was something I needed to achieve alone.

Taiken was not just my friend, he was the only thing keeping me safe.

Sure, I was able to hide behind an online persona, but when It came to _real_ life mine started in shambles.

It was nearly 5 years ago when I lost everything. It was on that night that I had seen my mom hit the ground the hardest. My father stood over her and spat, the saliva ran down her face picking up blood; it stopped when it flowed into a gash directly behind her ear. That time it was different, her sobs were stifled as soon as she hit the ground. I ran to her side, I began shaking her, after no result I leaned in close to her chest and placed my finger on her neck; I hesitated, already knowing the outcome.

My tears turned to sobs, my desperation turned to hate. I ran like I knew how; but, this time I had an object channeling my momentum. I dug the steak knife deep into his neck, I twisted and jerked it until I stole his last breath.

Before I had realized what happened, the door burst open. I was pulled off the ground and forced to look at my blood covered clothes. I dropped the knife as my guidance counselor from school drug me out the door. I was losing consciousness and fast. The last thing I remembered was the slam of the car door and the feeling of the cool leather upholstery of his back seat.

When I awoke it was revealed to me that my new counselor wasn't actually a counselor. His name was Ken Taichi, a hired detective; he said he was involved in a program that was new to our nation in 2017. The program deployed operatives into plausible abusive households.

Seeing me the way he did Ken knew I would need help.

It wasn't long before the stories were released: "Crazed teenager kills parents and then disappears." "Recent evidence confirms killing of parents in local home." "Etsuko Gimudzuke kills parents, instead of turning me in like he was supposed too Ken kept me in hiding for close to 6 months, in and out of cheap hotels, sometimes sleeping under the same roof with strangers. I remember the day he asked me to move with him, it took convincing his wife, Mieko, and his son; my friend Kurt. On my 17th birthday the family surprised me with a roadtrip to their new house across the country; we had to move as Ken was accepting his new "safer" job as a head of cyber security at a fairly new company. I no longer had to stay in the basement, being a given a new name I was allowed to continue high school. As the adopted Etsuko Taichi, I started to recreate a normal life. I finished high school and was accepted into a prestigious University. That was until I was trapped in this damn game.

The same anger that filled me with death of my mother was paired with confusion. I came to find out that Ken worked for Akihiko Kayaba, if this lunatic trapped thousands then he was probably behind the death of my friend and father.

This was not an accident, It was a setback, Kayaba killed Ken and possibly had Mieko. I have one goal in mind, and it is past floor 100.


	3. Recludam

**Chapter 3 - Recludam**

It was a month before I decided to message Kurt. He had tried to contact me multiple times before with no success. He had gone off and joined some guild while I was still in a small village outside the Town of Beginnings.

With recent news that the 1st floor's boss was defeated I knew I must go, I had almost wiped the fields clean near this village; though, I was barely level 11.

I took a long journey to the Town of Beginnings, but upon arrival I noticed that there were still tons of people crowding the streets.

I assumed maybe there was a famous blacksmith in town or maybe a-

"Step right up! Step right up! Level 10 weapons or higher! Get them before their gone!" an announcer's voice boomed.

As I walked over to spy on the commotion I couldn't help but notice groups of people who had smiles on their faces. People who had acquired families in this short amount of time. There was still a little hope in this chaos.

I approached the shop, there were various weapons from daggers to short swords. But in the corner of the shop laid a hammer, The Recludam, a large translucent weapon that had a handle encrusted with gold.

I decided with a weapon so beautiful it had to cost a fortune. But why was it in the back of the shop?

I asked the smith, "How much for the one in the back?" I opened my inventory and stared at my total of 1436 Cor, all collected from tirelessly killing mobs.

He replied, "1750 Cor for the man, a beautifully crafted weapon that was returned because of it's immense skill it takes to master it. More than the low levels have around here at least."

"If it was returned," I asked, "who's to say it's not defective?"

"It was returned by a rich wanna-be," the smith continued, "He had just returned from a victory against a low-level boss; sadly this newly found confidence didn't help his skill."

"Oh, ok" I answered, I started to walk away when I had an idea.

Instead of carrying on with my business I walked to the nearest table, I interrupted a group's meal by stepping onto a chair and onto their table.

People started looking at me as I began to shout, "This shopkeeper is a phony! He is selling used weapons for absurd prices!"

As the smith noticed that people were starting to leave he ran around the counter so fast that he knocked all of his shelves down.

He tackled me off the table and grabbed me while I was yelling, he pulled my inside and sat me in a chair directly behind the counter.

"The lowest I will go is 1300." He had already come to a conclusion on my motive.

We made a deal and I bought the weapon, The Recludam was mine.

From the shop I walked into a small tavern no more than five blocks away, they served drinks and various snack items.

I used some of my remaining cor to buy one of the meat pies so many people had come to love. I sat down at a table by myself, my faded blue cloak draped over the back of the chair.

I leaned back and prepared to take a bite, my first time relaxing in that prison.

As I opened my mouth I heard someone whisper in my ear: "I know who you are Eron," I turned to see who it was, the figure was in a chair mirroring mine, they had a cloak like mine but theirs was a deep brown.

"Don't turn around." Their voice intensified, "I'll be watching you for a while, Etsuko."

It was enough to make me angry, even though I already assumed that whoever had Mieko had someone in the game.

"Don't bother to follow me, I have others waiting." The figure stated

As the person walked through the door we both turned and looked at each other, I caught a glimpse of dark eyes and a strand of white hair.

As the person left I made a promise to myself; I will find whoever that was and I would kill them.

I put my head down on the table, contemplating my situation. I had a potentially dangerous player in game stalking me, someone killed Taiken, someone has killed or taken Mieko; Why do they need me and Kurt alive?

I heard the chair directly across from me screech and then I heard soft voice ask, "You ok, Bud?"

I looked up to see a girl about my age sitting across from me, she had short brown hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing an apron, she must have worked there.

"Not unless you can help me kill someone." I mumbled to make her go away

She stared at me for a minute and then got up. I assumed she had left so I put my head back down.

She came back with more meat pies, she said "Here, this should help" and waved one in front of my face.

"I'm Sam" she said, proceeding to shove a pie into my mouth. Shocked, I spat it out on plate. "Eron" I managed to get my name out in between coughs.

"Nice to meet you Eron, so what can I help you with today?" Confused I said, "Did you not hear me the first time? I am hunting someone and I am going to kill the-" I was cut off by her flighty response; "I'm a pretty good fighter you know, I've been searching for a partner in crime." She paused for a moment, "Plus, you're pretty cute."

My face began to feel warm, I didn't know what to say other than, "You can help" I hesitated "If you want."

She jumped up with excitement. She took me by the arm and pulled me out of the chair.

"We will go to my place and grab my stuff, I'm moving in." She stated with no expression. Without time to respond she had my wrist and we were weaving in between pedestrians. We were moving so fast I was bouncing in between people knocking them over as we went. With each hit I became more frustrated. I yanked back on the hand that was pulling me and exclaimed, "Move in Where!?"

She turned around so fast that she practically produced a shockwave that knocked down everything in it's path. "Your house dummy" she said with a crazed smile. "What house, the one nearly a three day walk in a secluded village?" I issued as a rebuttal.

"Oh... then we will be nomads," she seemed to be even more excited "we'll explore, and fight, and destroy evil" Her face now determined yet playful.

What did I get myself into? I just agreed to let some girl tag along on a very dangerous quest. I stood there staring into her deep green eyes and something came over me. Then I leaned in and kissed her, she obviously enjoyed it as she wrapped her arms around me and stopped talking.

Without a moment's notice she took my hand and we walked off in one direction going where the now very late evening led us.


End file.
